I Regret Almost Everything

The repeated references to Keith McNally’s restaurants cumulatively represent McNally’s ongoing Search for Meaning and Purpose. Over the course of his career as a restaurateur, McNally has opened over a dozen restaurants. These businesses include the Odeon, Balthazar, Pravda, Pastis, Minetta Tavern, Morandi, Schiller’s Liquor Bar, Augustine, Café Luxembourg, Nell’s, Lucky Strike, Pulino’s, and others. Each restaurant was inspired by a different place or idea. McNally opened some of the restaurants independently, but the majority he opened with the help of friends, family, and colleagues—most notably his first wife Lynn and his brother Brian. No matter the relational or artistic dynamics surrounding McNally’s restaurant projects, all of them are expressions of identity, love, and longing.

The sheer number of restaurants that McNally has opened and operated conveys his restless, searching spirit. In his youth, McNally’s inability to derive satisfaction from any one project was a symptom of his self-doubt. As he matured as a person and established his reputation in the industry, McNally’s devotion to creating more and more New York restaurants developed into a form of artistic expression, and a means of establishing community and self-assuredness.